OFFSTAGE: Keith Urban on the One Big Fell Swoop of Idol

(CMT Offstage keeps a 24/7 watch on everything that’s happening with country music artists behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.)

Keith Urban describes the invitation to be a judge on American Idol as “part of one big fell swoop.” In an interview with an Australian radio show
, he admitted he’s been asked if he’d be interested in sitting at that judges’ table. “They did reach out to us. But they’ve been reaching out to a lot of people, so I think they are just figuring out which way they are going to go,” he said. “All I can say right now is that I’m trying to make an album, and it’s strange how these opportunities seem to all come in one big fell swoop.” Urban says his priority is just making the new album. Elsewhere in the interview, he talks about his own path to stardom and how he spent his early days in Nashville just pining for a bus. After spending years and years driving around to gigs crammed in a van, Urban says he thought, “God, I hope one day I get a tour bus.” He added, “It was nice to finally then get a bus. I do have a nice bus, and it’s not lost on me either. There are some nights I look down the hallway to the front lounge and I think, ‘Good god, I have a bus.’ Now it’s a whole different beast.”